SERPENTS. The serpent/serpent monster motif is widespread throughout the southeastern United States. The serpent is a creature of ambiguous attributes, both feared and admired by the southeastern Indians. In mythology, the rattlesnake was the creature that saved mankind from a disease sent by the sun to destroy it; thus one has the serpent in the role of a savior. In a similar role, snakes or snake symbolism are often utilized by the shaman as a shield against sickness and evil; yet the snake also instills fear in man, in both the natural and supernatural states. Men decorated their bodies with the serpent motif to gather power and to create fear in their enemies.
--Thomas E. Emerson,
Water, Serpents, and the Underworld [image: snake pot by Georgia Harris]